The Opelousas courier., 1887-08-06
THE USE OF COCA
The Marvellous Effects OF a
Wonderful Drug.
a Consul Tails How Coca Affects Ma
tives of South America.

Consul Du Pre- transmits from Sar
| Salvador to the United States Depart
ment of State an interesting report upon
the use of coca in that country and it,
effects upon the inhabitants. He says:
have seen so much recently written
of coca in newspapers and in medical
publications that / am impelled to report
what | have learned of tho virtues Of
this product of South American forests.
With leathern straps passing around
their foreheads to sustain burdens of 15(
OF 300 pounds on their backs, / find
these 1.-the, slender natives traversins
plains and mountains with greater celer-
ity than the mule | bestride, which trav-
els through the livclong day six miles an
hour. Native physicians, eleves OF the
schools of Paris, concur in assuring me
that this extraordinary capacity for en-
durancc of toll and hunger is to be
ascribed to the use by these viageros OF
coca.
It is administered freely to infants,
and is the chief intoxicant of men and
women. Youths through many days
are intrusted with the care of valuable
focks of llamas, having no other sus-
teuance than that to be found in little
leathern purses containing coca and its
compounds. Indians chew it constantly;
theirs, like the maxillary movements of
tobacco chewcrs, are incessant. From
30 to 20 gramas are consumed daily,
serving unlike tobacco, both as food and
stimulant. Without coca hab tual chew
ers cannot digest food; without it they
are unable to ascend mountains, with
long, rapid strides, never Stacking their
wonderful speed throughout the livelong
day; they will not toll without it; with
out it they enjoy nothing; without it,
practically they cease to live. The, i'm
mediate effect of chewing coca is perfect
insensibili:y of the interior of thu mouth.
The immediate sensation is that which
n would experience when find ng that
his mouth had becoms a great void in
somebody else's head. had a dentist
apply it when extracting the roots of a
molar tooth, and the effect was as de-
scribed. Indians co constantly using coca
finally lose the senses of taste aud smell.
They can cat, without repugnance,
most disgusting food and drink
most nauseatins draugnts; the sensi-
tiveness of the mucus membrane has
been destroyed. When goes further
and swallows the saliva impregnated with
the juice of the coca leaf, a dclic Gus
sensation of warmth and perfect blessed
ness pervades ones whole being, intelIec-
tual, nervous, and physical, and he is
Tapped in the joys of an elysium.
In doses Of Is to 60 grains, coca pro-
duces delightful intoxication. Its joys
transcend i'll perfect blcssedness all
known human delights. A sensation
OF lightness first supervenes; the air in
hailed is zephyrs frcm angels wings;
there are wild imaginings and fantastic
Authorizations and gorgeous visions, aud
complete insensibility. 1t is intoxi-
cation without drowsincss, without con-
of the brain, involving a sense
of perfect rest. The law of grayitation
is suspended and the coquero drifts
among the stars. Meanwhile the
muscular system is stimulated to an cx-
traordinary degree. An intellectual ex-
superveneS, enabling the ''pos-
of this demon to watch and toll
through s!ecpiess days and nights. No
dreadful headache or more intolerable
prostration follows.
SIT is the most potent n~ervine, almost,
1t mans disposal. Its hygienie proper
les arc disclosed from its physiological
properties" says a Spanish NJ. D., who
dds that in hot infusion it is the one
lsefut and healthfni beverage one can
lse after dinner. Especially is it COM
nended to the feeble, to those who have
ranscended limits of sobriety in using
It's virtues should be tested,
therefore,, in. inebriate asylums. 1t sure
J Gains nervous e%xcitability of many,
md, taken in small quantities, enables
me to endure cold and rain and SLOW,
md it enables II to defy great fatigue,
nd restores the forces lost by excuses.
t is ~populariy used for indigestion, for
Iisordercd stomachs, for hysteria, fatu-
ency, and collie, AMI all forms Of intes-
inai disorders. It is used constantly by
oilers in mines, and when one reaches
he mines after marching several days
forests and over mountains, sus-
aimed alone by the use of coca and
maize, he is permitted to eat at discre-
ion through four days and have perfect
est. Then he is in perfect health and
fresh and fat,' says the writer above
Decentralization intoxication by
Sc Of coca-more easily becomes ha-
itual and incurable than alcoholism o.
ddictiyeness to opiates. It's consc-
uenecs, however, are not wholly meas
red or comprchended, excessive and
onstant use Of this intoxicant bogets
nnnnaI A.l 80 80. -